


'Violence is Never the Answer' is a Lesson Steve Missed

by JurisfictionAgent99



Series: Steve, Danny, and Grace [2]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Danny wondering how this is his life, Fluff, M/M, Steve is Grace's legal father, Steve protecting Grace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-09
Updated: 2014-04-09
Packaged: 2018-01-18 13:24:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1430104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JurisfictionAgent99/pseuds/JurisfictionAgent99
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve goes down to Grace's school after she gets in a fight. Danny gets called in and sets things straight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	'Violence is Never the Answer' is a Lesson Steve Missed

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't a sequel but it is set in the same universe as the first part. I was thinking about doing a sequel since people seemed enthusiastic about it, but I couldn't get the story to come out. I hope you all like this instead. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!

"But, but-"

"Miss Williams, please wait for your father to arrive. We will discuss this when everyone is present," Grace's principal said to her. They were facing off across the principal's desk, Grace sitting with her arms folded and an angry frown on her face. 

In the chair beside Grace's sat the boy she had punched. He had a mulish look on his face and seemed to want to be anywhere other than where he was. The bruised cheek he was sporting lent credence to that desire.

Grace kicked her feet against her chair as she waited for her dad to get there. He would listen to her, she was sure of it. The principal might not want to hear her out but she knew her dad would. He was always on her side. She didn't have long to wait.

The door to the principal's office burst open.

"What's going on here?" Steve demanded as he stormed into the room. The principal's secretary scurried in behind him, attempting to put herself between him and the principal. Next time she should attempt something a little more realistic, like sending a rocket to the moon by blowing on it. 

"I tried to get him to wait," the secretary told the principal, finally giving up and standing by the door. "But he barged right in."

"Of course I did. You've got my little girl in here," Steve said, crossing his hands over his chest. "And I would like to know why."

"It's alright," the principal said, dismissing the secretary. "Mr. McGarrett, we cannot allow you to be in here. We are waiting for Grace's father to arrive. Until that happens I need you to wait in the hall."

Grace wished she had popcorn; this was about to get good.

"Wait in the hall?" Steve said quietly. "Why should I wait in the hall?"

Oh good, he was letting the principal dig herself into a hole.

"We need Grace's father to be present. Since you are not her father, you cannot be in here." She said as though this should be obvious then gestured to the door.

"Then who am I, exactly?"

The principal seemed to realize she had made a mistake. She looked nervously at Grace, who wasn't going to help her. Grace looked at her lap. Smirking gleefully at her principal seemed like a bad idea. When she had her face under control she looked up to finish watching. 

"You are the partner of Grace William's father. You are allowed to pick Grace up from school, but that does not give you the right to be in here. I'm sure Grace is very important to you but I cannot allow a non-legal guardian to be in here without her father present."

"As it happens, I am her father. Your school may refuse to acknowledge this fact but that doesn't make it any less true."

The principal looked taken aback. "What do you mean you are her father? It's listed on our records that her parents are Danny Williams and Rachel Williams. No Steve McGarrett is listed." 

"That's your mistake then. I am legally her father. Danny attempted to get your institution to recognize that fact which clearly, they have still failed to do. I am her father. I will be allowed to stay with her here. And you will tell me what's going on." Steve said this calmly, loudly, and without leaving the principal any wiggle room. 

"Ah," she held up a finger to signal him to wait, "Just give me a moment." She shuffled papers around on her desk as though hoping she would magically find the nonexistant paper that listed Steve as Grace's legal father. Sadly, it failed to appear. She kept shuffling past the point of plausibility just in case. Finally, unable to postpone the moment any further, she rose from her seat and spoke to Steve.

"Unfortunately, Mr. McGarret, you are not listed as a legal guardian for Miss Williams therefore I cannot allow you to stay. We must have Mr. Danny Williams present to vouch for you." All this was said with the air of someone who knew they were going down the wrong road but had no choice but to continue on.

"Is that so?" Steve's voice was dangerously calm. Grace gripped the chair's arms, wondering if she would need to shout at her dad to stop him from shredding her principal. She was upset she hadn't been listened to but she didn't really want to see her principal cry. Also, her dad really had no idea what to do with crying women. He would probably just pick Grace up and run out of the school with her. Actually, Grace thought, that might work. 

"Yes. Now please leave. I will call Mr. Williams again to see how soon he can be here," the principal was trying to hold it together but it was clear she wasn't going to manage much longer. She looked like she wanted to join the boy beside Grace in being anywhere but here. Too bad no one was granting that wish.

"That won't be necessary," Steve said, pulling out his phone. "I'll call Danny and see how he feels about his daughter getting called into the principal's office and her dad still not having the slightest clue as to why." Steve felt himself straighten up, stand taller with pride at being able to call himself Grace's dad.

He punched in Danny's number and held the phone to his ear. 

"Danno, I'm at Grace's school right now but they won't tell me anything because they refuse to acknowledge me as Grace's father. Just thought you should know." Then he hung up the phone. Grace knew the phone call was just a courtesy, a chance to let Danny prepare for whatever he was about to walk into. She hoped Danno was almost here. Even though she'd gotten in a fight, she liked this school and her friends here. She didn't want to transfer just because Steve brought the school to its knees. Even if that might be fun to watch. 

"I am, without a doubt, Grace's legal father. By Hawaii law a child is allowed to have three parents and I am one of them, along with Rachel and Danny Williams. As such you will tell me why my daughter is sitting in your office and you will tell me now. Or, you can continue to refuse me and I will bring you down to Five-0 headquarters in the back of my very nice truck and you can explain to me there why you refuse to acknowledge my legal rights as Grace's dad. This will lead to some very interesting consequences for you and your school. Which would you prefer?" Steve stared her down with the look of one who knew they had won. He wore that look a lot. It was definitely in Grace's top five favorite faces.

The flustered principal tried valiantly to regain her composure. She smoothed her shirt and sat down at her desk and motioned for Steve to sit in the chair she had set for Danny. He opted to pick Grace up and sit in her chair with her on his lap. She snuggled in deeper, pecked a kiss on his cheek and smiled contentedly. Her daddy was here, he would protect her. 

"Thank you for coming so quickly, Mr. McGarrett, " the principal began, as though the last few minutes had never happened.

"Of course. I'm always available for things concerning my daughter." Steve emphasized the word daughter as though daring the principal to correct him. She didn't.

"That's good to hear. The reason we called you in today is that Grace and Tommy got into a bit of a disagreement. As you can see," she gestured to Tommy's bruised face, "It ended poorly."

Steve looked between Grace and Tommy, he was bruised, she wasn't; clearly she had won. That was his girl alright. He tried not to beam with pride; if Danny caught him he would give him a lecture about not condoning violence or some such nonsense. He was glad his girl knew how to defend herself. 

"I'm more concerned with how it started," Steve said, looking at the principal. 

"I think it best to let the children speak. Grace, would you like to go first?" she asked. 

Grace nodded and looked up at Steve. 

"We were at lunch and Tommy came over and said that you weren't really my dad. He said you and Danno were going to split up and that you would leave me. He was wrong and I told him so but he kept saying it. I told him to stop but he wouldn't, so I hit him."

It sounded perfectly logical to Steve but from the principal's frown he figured he was alone in that regard.

He turned to look at the principal. "She informed him that he was in the wrong but he continuted harassing her. She told him to stop, he didn't. Violence was her last resort. Standard procedure."

The principal looked like she wanted to tell Steve off but wasn't sure how to actually do it. 

"The thing is, Mr. McGarrett, violence is not allowed here. Hitting was not the answer. Tommy was wrong for what he said to her but Grace should have found a teacher and had them handle the situation instead of resolving it in the manner she did." She indicated Tommy's face. Tommy's chagrined face that was currently staring at his lap as though that would keep Steve from noticing him.

"Kids are kids. What's wrong with a little rough housing every now and then?" Steve asked, calmly.

"They weren't rough housing. Grace had to be pulled off Tommy before she pummeled him."

Steve gave Grace a fistbump.

"Mr. McGarrett," the principal admonished, "I understand that in your line of work things are done a bit differently but here at school violence is a punishable offense."

Steve looked flabbergasted. 

"Punishment?! You want to punish my daughter for defending herself?" Steve demanded. He looked like he wanted to storm out of the room with Grace under his arm.

The principal held out a hand to try desperately to placate him. This was about to get out of hand.

"Mr. McGarrett, she wasn't defending herself, she was attacking Tommy," she tried to get him to understand.

"Verbal harassment constitutes an attack. He attacked her," he said, not backing down.

"She should have gotten a teacher," the principal insisted. "She had no reason to hit him. She will have to be disciplined."

"She most certainly will not-"

"I'm here. I'm here," Danny said as he ran into the room, interrupting the beginning of Steve's angry shout. He looked around the room at the the red faced principal, the cowed boy, his thunderous partner and his daughter who was smiling like that cat who got the cream. Whatever was going on Steve had clearly been on Grace's side.

He walked over and kissed Grace hello. 

"What's going on?" he asked Steve who was now on his feet.

"Tommy was bullying Gracie, she asked him to stop, he didn't, so she hit him. Now she," he nodded toward the principal, "is trying to punish her for that. Which is completely out of line," Steve said adamantly. He wasn't sure Danny would actually go along with that but perhaps, if he just said it forcefully enough, he could get him to agree.

Danny walked over and shook hands with the principal. A look of relief washed over her as she realized she might finally have an ally in the room. Or at least someone who wasn't going to try and bite her head off.

"Hello, I'm sorry I couldn't get here sooner. Did the boy hit her first?" he asked, trying to figure out exactly what happened.

"No, he did not. We do know he was teasing her before she attacked but she was the first to turn it into a physical altercation. Since they were both involved in starting the fight, both of them will serve a one day suspension from school."

Danny sighed and kept Steve from shouting at the principal by wrapping a hand around his waist. 

"I understand," Danny told her. He turned to Grace. 

"Monkey, I want you to apologize to.."

"Tommy," Grace supplied.

"Tommy. I want you to apologize to Tommy for hitting him. And I want you," he turned and glared daggers at Tommy, "to apologize for bullying my daughter. Which you won't be doing again, isn't that right," Danny said as he folded his arms across his chest.

The boy nodded quickly. "Yes, sir. Sorry I said those things, Grace," he said, looking up at Grace who was still in Steve's arms. 

"And I'm sorry I hit you," she said. "But if you do it again-" 

Danny cut off Grace's threat. "Monkey, we will discuss this in the car, okay?"

"Okay," she mumbled. 

"Sorry for the inconvenience," Danny said as he walked over to the principal and stuck out his hand. 

"It's quite alright. Everything worked out in the end." She smiled conspiratorially at him, as though trying to bond over how outrageous Steve had been. She clearly regarded Danny as the sane parent. "You can bring Grace back to school the day after tomorrow." 

"We'll do that," Danny said, shaking her hand. "But there is one more thing we need to clear up." 

The principal gulped. 

"Steve McGarrett is Grace's legal father. He is recognized as such by the government of Hawaii, and the federal government. The president recognizes Steve as Grace's legal father. This leads me to wonder why your school seems incapable to doing the same. I have filled out all the necessary paperwork and brought it to this lovely school not once, but twice. Yet, somehow, it keeps getting lost. When Grace comes back to school I will drop this paperwork off for the third time. If it goes missing again, I will send Steve down here to speak to you about that, in any manner he sees fit. Understand?" Danny released the hand of one very stunned principal and walked out the door.

Steve and Grace followed after him. At the door, Steve turned and looked back. "Will I need to come back down here to have that discussion?" he asked calmly.

The principal, swaying slightly, silently shook her head.

"Good," Steve said. Then he walked out to the car, kissed Danny goodbye, and drove his daughter home.

**Author's Note:**

> Regarding laws and school policies, I'm pretty much just making it up as I go along.


End file.
